


The Rubik's Cube Metaphor

by helsinkibaby



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Comment Fic, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-06
Updated: 2014-12-06
Packaged: 2018-02-28 10:17:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2728643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An overheard comment gets Hotch thinking.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Rubik's Cube Metaphor

"She looks like a Rubik's cube."

The comment is cruel, meant to be funny, and the local LEO to whom it's addressed certainly snickers.  That snicker lasts as long as it takes them to realise that Hotch has overheard them, as long as it takes him to level his patented laser glare in their direction. They have the decency to look ashamed, look down and scuttle away to carry on with their tasks, leaving Hotch to look across the room at the object of their derision.

Garcia's outfit is, as ever, a riot of colour and due to the pattern of her jacket, the reference to a Rubik's cube is actually not too far from the truth. Her skirt (just pushing the boundaries of appropriate length) is bright pink, her shoes are yellow and there is a violet flower holding back some of her hair. 

Just looking at her makes him smile, but for very different reasons than the LEOs.

He tempers his smile when she walks towards him (professionalism and all that) but when she speaks, the smile fades altogether. "I saw that." 

She is grinning, even as he frowns. "Saw what?" She couldn't have heard the comment, not from where she was standing. 

"Officer Rubik's Cube over there, who went a-running after a Hotch glare?" He blinks in surprise and she quirks an eyebrow. "Lucky guess... Let's just say he has a limited repertoire of supposed humour that he repeats. Often." Hotch feels his jaw tighten and Garcia's grin widens. "Thank you, by the way."

"He shouldn't talk about you like that."

Garcia's smile changes almost imperceptibly, becomes more tender, as does her voice. "You're very sweet," she tells him quietly. "But it doesn't bother me. I've been called worse. Besides, I'm not a Rubik's Cube. You, on the other hand..."

Eyes twinkling, she heads back to her computer, leaving him to think about that and he doesn't think about it for long before he realises that it's true. 

He's not as colourful as she is, nowhere near with his palette of navy and grey and brown. He's definitely square though, he can admit that with a smile on his face, and while he might look stoic and solid on the outside, inside he's often anything but. 

Those are the times when, just like with the real Rubik's Cube she has on a shelf in her bedroom, she works magic on him, talking to him, smiling with him, putting him back together the right way, making him right again. 

He wouldn't have it any other way. 


End file.
